Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as the U.S.S.R (USSR), Soviet Union, or the CCCP by the Russians, was a constitutionally socialist state in Eurasia from 1922-1991. The USSR had 15 languages spoken in it such as Russian, Uzbek, and Latvian. It also had many of the countries in Europe and Asia that we know today such as Estonia, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Conception Early in its conception, the Soviet Union strived to achieve harmony among all peoples of all countries. The original ideology of the state was primarily based on the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marx's theory stated that economic and political systems went through an inevitable evolution in form, by which the current capitalist system would be replaced by a socialist state before achieving international cooperation and peace in a "Workers' Paradise," creating a system directed by what Marx called "Pure Communism." ;Major events that led to the creation of the USSR: # The Russian Revolution of 1917 # The Russian Civil War # The Polish–Soviet War # Implementation of the New Economic Policy During the Civil War (1917–21), the Bolsheviks adopted War communism, which entailed the breakup of the landed estates and the forcible seizure of agricultural surpluses. In the cities there were intense food shortages and a breakdown in the money system (at the time many Bolsheviks argued that ending money's role as a transmitter of "value" was a sign of the rapidly approaching communist epoch). Many city dwellers fled to the countryside - often to tend the land that the Bolshevik breakup of the landed estates had transferred to the peasants. Even small scale "capitalist" production was suppressed. The Kronstadt rebellion signaled the growing unpopularity of War Communism in the countryside: in March 1921, at the end of the civil war, disillusioned sailors, primarily peasants who initially had been stalwart supporters of the Bolsheviks under the provisional government, revolted against the new regime. At the Tenth Party Congress, it was decided to end War Communism and institute the New Economic Policy (NEP), in which the state allowed a limited market to exist. Small private businesses were allowed and restrictions on political activity were somewhat eased. The New Economic Policy (NEP, Russian новая экономическая политика, НЭП) was an economic policy of Soviet Russia proposed by Vladimir Lenin, who described it as a progression towards "state capitalism" within the workers' state of the USSR.Lenin, V.I. Left-Wing Childishness, April/May 1918, Available at: www.marxists.org Lenin characterized "state capitalism" and his NEP policies in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control" while socialized state enterprises were to operate on "a profit basis".Lenin, V.I. "The Role and Functions of the Trade Unions under the New Economic Policy", LCW, 33, p. 184., Decision Of The C.C., R.C.P.(B.), January 12, 1922. Published in Pravda No. 12, January 17, 1922; Lenin's Collected Works, 2nd English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, Volume 33, pages 188-196 Creation On December 29, 1922 a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. These two documents were confirmed by the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR and signed by heads of delegationsVoted Unanimously for the Union - Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Tskhakaya, Mikhail Frunze and Grigory Petrovsky, Alexander ChervyakovCreation of the USSR at Khronos.ru respectively on December 30, 1922. References Category:Soviet Union